Bill Gates forms mysterious new company
Austin Business Journal
Just months after his Microsoft farewell, Bill Gates is quietly creating a new company — complete with high-tech office space, a cryptic name and even its own trademark, according to TechFlash, a new technology news website launched by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Public documents describe the new Gates entity — bgC3 LLC — as a “think tank.” It’s housed within a Kirkland, Wash. office that the Microsoft co-founder established on his own after leaving his day-to-day executive role at the company this summer.
Is this Bill Gates’ next big business? A Gates insider gives an emphatic no — saying it’s not a commercial venture but rather a vehicle to coordinate the software mogul’s work on his business and philanthropic endeavors.
However, bgC3 will also oversee Gates’ personal pursuit of breakthrough ideas in science and technology. The insider said the goal isn’t necessarily to create new companies, although ideas could be passed along to Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, or others.
Whatever the ultimate role of the company, the circumstances surrounding its creation provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the new era of Gates’ life.
State records show that the company, originally called Carillon Holdings, was established in March 2008. It formally changed its name to bgC3 in early July, 10 days after Gates left his full-time job at the company he built into an industry giant. He remains Microsoft’s chairman and continues to work part-time on projects.
Federal trademark filings provide more clues – describing bgC3 as a think tank, under a generic trademark classification that corresponds broadly to areas including “scientific and technological services,” “industrial analysis and research,” and “design and development of computer hardware and software.”
For details on the Gates story, visit TechFlash at www.techflash.com.
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